Land Transfer Fees: What They Include, How to Calculate Them, and What to Prepare
TalataReal Estate
Land transfer fees catch out more buyers and sellers than almost any other part of a Thai property deal, because the purchase price is nowhere near the full amount you need on the day. On top of it sit the transfer fee itself, specific business tax or stamp duty, withholding income tax, and a mortgage registration fee if a bank is involved.
The short answer: a normal land sale carries five main costs. A 2% transfer fee charged on the government-assessed value, either specific business tax at 3.3% or stamp duty at 0.5% but never both, withholding income tax worked out from the assessed value and how long the seller has held the plot, and a 1% mortgage registration fee that only applies if the buyer is borrowing. Transfers to a child or an inheritance run on a completely different set of rates.
This guide walks through what each cost is, how it is calculated, what documents you need, what happens at the land office, and how the figures change depending on who is transferring to whom. If you are still at the stage of finding a plot, Talata brings land listings from owners and agents together in one place so you can compare location, size and price before arranging a viewing.
What Are Land Transfer Fees and Who Do You Pay?
Land transfer fees are the costs of moving ownership of a plot from one party to another, whether that is a sale, a gift to a child or grandchild, or an inheritance. The transfer is only complete once the rights and juristic act have been registered with an officer at the land office.
The costs split into two groups:
- Fees payable to the Department of Lands, namely the transfer fee and the mortgage registration fee
- Taxes and duties belonging to the Revenue Department — specific business tax, stamp duty and personal withholding income tax — which the land office collects on its behalf on the day
The officer works from the government-assessed value, the actual sale price, the number of years the seller has held the property, and the nature of the transfer. Because those four inputs drive everything, it pays to estimate the total in advance rather than finding out at the counter.
A Note for Foreign Buyers
Foreign nationals cannot own land outright in Thailand. The structures people commonly use instead — a condominium unit within the 49% foreign quota, a registered lease, or ownership through a Thai company — each carry their own rules and risks, and are worth understanding before you budget for transfer costs at all. Our guide on whether foreigners can buy property in Thailand covers what is and is not permitted.
Why Must Land Be Transferred at the Land Office?
A signed sale contract on its own does not move ownership. Land is held under a title document such as a Chanote deed, so the change of owner has to be registered with a competent officer at the land office. The officer checks the paperwork, confirms the assessed value, calculates the taxes and fees, and endorses the new owner's name on the back of the deed. Until that happens, ownership has not passed no matter how much money has changed hands.
What Are the Main Land Transfer Fees and How Are They Calculated?
Search for what a land transfer costs and you get a long list of line items that is hard to make sense of. This table gives the shape of it before the detail.
| Cost item | Typical rate | Calculation base | Usually paid by |
|---|---|---|---|
| Land transfer fee | 2% | Government-assessed value | Negotiated, often split equally |
| Specific business tax | 3.3% | Assessed value or sale price, whichever is higher | Seller |
| Stamp duty | 0.5% | Assessed value or sale price, whichever is higher | Seller |
| Withholding income tax | Progressive, 5–35% | Assessed value after deductions | Seller |
| Mortgage registration fee | 1% | Mortgage amount | Buyer, if borrowing |
| Application and witness fees | 25 baht | Fixed | Applicant |
Those are the building blocks. In practice the picture shifts depending on how long the seller has owned the plot, whether the transfer is a gift or an inheritance, and whether a bank is lending against it.
Land Transfer Fee: 2%
This is the main cost of registering a change of ownership. The standard rate is 2%, and it is charged on the Treasury Department's assessed value — not on the price the two parties agreed. This is the single most common calculation error, and it usually works in your favour: assessed values in Thailand normally sit well below market prices, so the real bill tends to come in lower than people expect.
In an ordinary sale there is no legal rule about who pays. Buyers and sellers agree it between themselves, and splitting it in half is the most common arrangement. Settle it in writing before the appointment rather than at the counter.
Specific Business Tax: 3.3%
Specific business tax applies when a sale counts as being made "in the course of trade or for profit". The case most ordinary sellers run into is selling within five years of acquiring the property. The effective rate collected is 3.3% of the assessed value or the sale price, whichever is higher — 3% business tax plus a local tax of 10% of that amount.
Several exemptions remove it even inside the five-year window:
- The seller's name has been on the house registration for the property for at least one year
- The property was acquired by inheritance
- It is being transferred to the seller's own legitimate child without consideration
- It is expropriated, or transferred to a government body without consideration
Where specific business tax applies, stamp duty is not charged as well. So before estimating anything, establish which of the two the seller falls under.
Stamp Duty: 0.5%
Stamp duty applies in the cases where specific business tax does not, at 0.5% of the assessed value or the sale price, whichever is higher.
The two are never charged together on the same transaction, which is why the five-year question matters so much. A seller who has held the land for more than five years, or whose name has been on the house registration for a year, drops from 3.3% to 0.5% — a difference that runs well into six figures on a sizeable plot.
Withholding Income Tax
This one falls on the seller, and the land office calculates it from the assessed value alone — the sale price is not used. The sequence is: take deductions off, divide by the number of years held to get an average annual figure, apply the progressive income tax rates, then multiply back up by the same number of years. Years held are capped at ten, and any part-year counts as a full year.
The step people get wrong is the deduction, because there is not one rate but two, depending on how the seller came by the land in the first place:
- Acquired by inheritance or received as a gift: a flat 50% deduction, regardless of how long it has been held
- Acquired any other way, such as buying it: deducted according to the holding-period table below
| Years held | Deduction allowed |
|---|---|
| 1 year | 92% |
| 2 years | 84% |
| 3 years | 77% |
| 4 years | 71% |
| 5 years | 65% |
| 6 years | 60% |
| 7 years | 55% |
| 8 years or more | 50% |
Because this involves progressive bands rather than a flat percentage, it is the hardest line to estimate yourself. For a high-value plot or a long holding period, have the land office or an accountant run the number before the appointment.
Mortgage Registration Fee: 1%, Only When Using a Bank Loan
This applies only where the buyer is borrowing and the land is being mortgaged as security, and it is charged at 1% of the mortgage amount.
It is a separate thing from the transfer fee. The transfer fee covers changing the name on the deed; the mortgage fee covers registering the bank's security interest. Buy with cash and it does not arise at all.
The 0.01% Transfer Fee Reduction, Now Extended to 30 June 2027
The cabinet resolved on 30 June 2026 to extend the reduction in registration fees for residential property by a further year, and the Ministry of Interior issued the notification giving it effect from 1 July 2026 to 30 June 2027. The transfer registration fee drops from 2% to 0.01%, and the mortgage registration fee from 1% to 0.01%.
Every condition below has to be met:
- The property must be a detached house, semi-detached house, townhouse, commercial building, land together with one of those buildings, or a unit in a registered condominium — new or resale
- Bare land is excluded, so a plain land purchase does not qualify
- The sale price, the assessed value and the mortgage amount must each be no more than 7 million baht
- The buyer must be a Thai national and a natural person
- To get the reduced mortgage fee as well, the transfer and the mortgage must be registered at the same time
The point that is most often missed is that the measure only touches the Department of Lands' own fees. Withholding income tax, specific business tax and stamp duty are all still collected at normal rates, so seeing 0.01% quoted does not mean the day is nearly free. Ring the local land office before the appointment to confirm your particular case qualifies.
How to Calculate Land Transfer Fees, with Formulas and Examples
Four figures drive everything:
- The government-assessed value
- The actual sale price
- How many years the seller has held the land
- The mortgage amount, if there is a loan
| Item | Rough formula |
|---|---|
| Transfer fee | Assessed value × 2% |
| Specific business tax | Higher of assessed value or sale price × 3.3% |
| Stamp duty | Higher of assessed value or sale price × 0.5% |
| Mortgage registration fee | Mortgage amount × 1% |
| Withholding income tax | Assessed value, less deductions, divided by years held, taxed at progressive rates, multiplied back |
Whatever you work out yourself is an estimate. The binding figure is the one the land office calculates from your documents on the day.
Estimating the Transfer Fee from the Assessed Value
For a quick sense of scale, work from the assessed value. This table covers the transfer fee only, before any tax or duty.
| Assessed value | Transfer fee at 2% | If the 0.01% measure applies |
|---|---|---|
| 1,000,000 baht | 20,000 baht | 100 baht |
| 2,000,000 baht | 40,000 baht | 200 baht |
| 3,000,000 baht | 60,000 baht | 300 baht |
| 5,000,000 baht | 100,000 baht | 500 baht |
| 7,000,000 baht | 140,000 baht | 700 baht |
The gap between those two columns is why it is worth establishing early whether the property qualifies. At 7 million baht the difference is roughly 139,300 baht. Remember that bare land does not qualify — it has to be residential property or land with a qualifying building on it.
Example: Calculating Land Transfer Fees for a General Sale
Say the agreed price is 1,500,000 baht, the assessed value is 1,400,000 baht, the seller has held the plot for three years, and the buyer is borrowing 1,200,000 baht.
| Item | Rough calculation | Estimated amount |
|---|---|---|
| Transfer fee, 2% | 1,400,000 × 2% | 28,000 baht |
| Specific business tax, 3.3% | 1,500,000 × 3.3% | 49,500 baht |
| Stamp duty | Not charged when business tax applies | 0 baht |
| Withholding income tax | From the assessed value of 1,400,000, with a 77% deduction for three years held | Calculated by the land office |
| Mortgage registration fee, 1% | 1,200,000 × 1% | 12,000 baht |
Note the two different bases at work: the transfer fee is calculated on the assessed 1,400,000, while business tax uses the sale price of 1,500,000 because it is the higher figure. Bare land like this does not qualify for the 0.01% measure, so the full 2% applies. Even on a modest plot the total moves past 90,000 baht without much effort, which is why the split needs agreeing in advance.
Who Pays What in a General Land Sale?
Nothing in law dictates who pays which line. Buyer and seller are free to agree whatever they like. The convention, though, is that the seller carries specific business tax, stamp duty and withholding income tax, the buyer carries the mortgage registration fee if borrowing, and the 2% transfer fee is the one item that usually gets split.
Agree it when you draft the sale and purchase agreement and write it into the document. Leaving it until you are standing at the land office counter tends to end in a postponed appointment or an argument over a five-figure sum. Sellers who have not been through this before will find our guide on selling a house, condo or land useful, and buyers taking on a building should complete a pre-transfer property inspection before signing anything off.
Land Transfer Fees for Transferring Land to a Child
Transferring land to a child works on different terms from a sale, because it is treated as a transfer between a parent and a legitimate child rather than a profit-seeking transaction.
Where the child is legitimate and the transfer is made without consideration, the rates normally applied are:
- Transfer fee of 0.5% of the assessed value instead of 2%
- Exemption from specific business tax
- Stamp duty of 0.5% of the assessed value
- Income tax exempt on the first 20 million baht per year, with 5% charged on anything above that
"Legitimate child" is the phrase that decides all of this. It means a child born to parents who are married, or one the father has formally registered as his own. Adopted children do not get the same treatment, and nor do grandchildren transferring in the ordinary way — both are charged at general rates.
Extra documents usually required are the child's birth certificate, proof of the relationship, the parents' marriage certificate, ID cards, house registration books and the original title deed.
Transfers to a Spouse, Grandchild or Other Relatives
Most people know that transferring to a child is cheaper than selling, but the land office actually applies different rates across a whole range of relationships. This table gathers the common ones. Treat it as the general guidance it is — individual cases can carry specific conditions, so ring your local land office before the appointment.
| Relationship | Transfer fee | Stamp duty / specific business tax | Withholding income tax |
|---|---|---|---|
| General sale | 2% of assessed value | 0.5% or 3.3%, one or the other | Progressive rates |
| Legitimate child | 0.5% | Stamp duty 0.5%, business tax exempt | First 20m baht per year exempt, 5% above |
| Illegitimate child | 0.5% | 0.5% or 3.3% | Progressive rates, 50% deduction |
| Registered spouse | 0.5% | 0.5% or 3.3% | Progressive rates, 50% deduction |
| Grandparent to direct grandchild | 0.5% | 0.5% or 3.3% | Progressive rates, 50% deduction |
| Siblings, in-laws, adopted children | 2% | 0.5% or 3.3% | Progressive rates, 50% deduction |
| Inheritance to descendant or spouse | 0.5% | Not charged | Not charged |
| Inheritance to other relatives or adopted children | 2% | Not charged | Not charged |
The distinction to hold onto is between a direct descendant and a relative, because it changes the fee fourfold. Grandparents transferring to their own grandchild get 0.5%, but a nephew, niece, son-in-law or daughter-in-law goes back to 2% as if it were a sale. Adopted children do not inherit the legitimate-child treatment on any line.
Spouses have an extra layer to consider. Land acquired during a marriage is usually marital property already, which can make transferring the name pointless. Ask the officer whether your case is marital or personal property first, because if it is marital you may pay the full fee for a change that alters nothing.
Land Transfer Fees for Inheritance
An inheritance transfer moves land from the deceased to an heir or someone otherwise entitled, and the costs differ clearly from a sale.
For statutory heirs — spouse, children, parents, siblings — the transfer fee is generally 0.5% of the assessed value, with no withholding income tax, no specific business tax and no stamp duty. A beneficiary under a will who is not a statutory heir is charged at a higher rate.
The item most people forget is inheritance tax, which is separate from the transfer fee entirely. It falls on the recipient and only on the portion above 100 million baht, at 5% where the recipient is an ascendant or descendant and 10% for other heirs. Land worth less than that threshold does not trigger a filing at all.
Documents usually needed are the title deed, the deceased's death certificate, proof of heirship, the court order appointing an estate administrator if there is one, and the will if one exists. Check with the land office first so you can gather everything in one go.
What Documents Are Required for Land Transfer? By Case
Missing paperwork is the single biggest cause of a postponed appointment, and what you need varies according to whether the parties are individuals or companies, and whether it is a sale, a gift to a child or an inheritance.
General Sale by Individuals
- The original title deed
- ID cards for buyer and seller
- House registration books for buyer and seller — if you have recently moved, sort out the house registration transfer first
- Certified copies of the above
- Marital status documents: marriage certificate, divorce certificate, or spousal consent
- Name or surname change certificates, if applicable
- Power of attorney for a title deed, Form Tor Dor 21, if either party is not attending — download the form from the Department of Lands, complete the whole document in one person's handwriting, leave no blank spaces to be filled in later, and attach certified ID copies for both grantor and grantee
- The sale and purchase agreement or related sale documents
Juristic Person Case
Where either party is a company, expect more paperwork:
- Company affidavit, issued within the last month
- Shareholder list
- Minutes of the meeting resolving to buy or sell the land
- ID cards and house registration books of authorised directors
- Company seal, if the company uses one
- Power of attorney, if someone is attending on the company's behalf
Transfer to a Child or Inheritance
A transfer to a child adds proof of the relationship — the birth certificate and the parents' marriage certificate. An inheritance adds the death certificate, proof of heirship, the court order appointing an estate administrator and the will, where those exist.
How Many Steps Are There to Transfer Land at the Land Office?
- Prepare your documents and go to the land office for the district where the land is located
- Submit them at the information desk or intake counter
- Take a queue number and wait to be called for document checks
- The officer verifies the paperwork and has both parties sign
- The officer assesses the value and calculates the total costs
- Pay at the finance counter against the figure given
- Return the payment receipt to the officer
- Collect the updated deed once the transfer is registered and the new owner's name is endorsed on the back
With complete documents, both parties present and no dispute over ownership, the whole thing can finish within a single day. Missing paperwork, a power of attorney or anything needing further checks will stretch it out. One thing worth confirming before you book the appointment is the type of title document, because red, green, black and blue Garuda deeds confer very different rights and some cannot be bought or sold at all.
Why Buy or Sell Land on Talata?
Before any of this matters, you have to find a plot that fits the budget, the location and what you intend to do with it. Talata gathers land listings from across the country in one place, so buyers can search and compare price, size, deed type and location before arranging a viewing or opening negotiations. If Thai land measurements are still unfamiliar, our guide to converting rai, ngan and wah will help you compare plots on the same basis.
For owners looking to sell or lease, Talata is another channel for reaching people actively searching for land. Once you have an interested party, you can arrange a site visit, check the documents and take the transfer through the land office from there. Either side of the deal, check the title document, confirm the current assessed value and compare your options properly before committing. When you find the plot that works, start the conversation through Talata.
Frequently Asked Questions
What Percentage Is the Land Transfer Fee?
The registration transfer fee is 2% of the government-assessed value. For residential property qualifying under the government measure and priced at no more than 7 million baht, it drops to 0.01% until 30 June 2027. Transfers to a legitimate child, and inheritances to statutory heirs, are charged at 0.5% of the assessed value.
Which Land Transfer Fees Does the Buyer Usually Pay?
Typically a share of the transfer fee as agreed with the seller, plus the 1% mortgage registration fee if borrowing. Specific business tax, stamp duty and withholding income tax normally sit with the seller. All of it is negotiable, so put the split in writing in the sale and purchase agreement.
What Is the Difference Between the Land Transfer Fee and the Mortgage Registration Fee?
The transfer fee covers changing the owner's name on the deed. The mortgage registration fee arises only when the buyer borrows and the land is put up as security. Buy with cash and there is no mortgage fee.
What Extra Costs Apply If I Sell Within Five Years?
Selling within five years of acquiring the property normally means specific business tax at 3.3% instead of stamp duty at 0.5% — several times the cost. Exemptions apply, most commonly where the seller's name has been on the house registration for at least a year, or where the land came by inheritance.
How Much Cash Should I Prepare Beyond the Purchase Price?
Budget for the transfer fee, the applicable taxes, stamp duty and the mortgage fee if you are borrowing. The total depends on the assessed value, the sale price, the holding period and what the two parties have agreed. As a rough guide it commonly lands between 3% and 6% of the transaction value.
Is Transferring Land to a Child Really Cheaper Than a Sale?
Yes. Transferring to a legitimate child without consideration carries a 0.5% transfer fee on the assessed value, exemption from specific business tax, and income tax exemption on the first 20 million baht per year. The treatment does not extend to adopted children or grandchildren.
Which Value Is Used for the Calculation, the Assessed Value or the Sale Price?
They are used for different lines. The 2% transfer fee and the withholding income tax are calculated on the government-assessed value only. Specific business tax at 3.3% and stamp duty at 0.5% use the assessed value or the sale price, whichever is higher. The 1% mortgage fee uses the mortgage amount and relates to neither.
How Much Does It Cost to Transfer One Rai of Land?
There is no fixed answer, because the fee is not based on area at all. It is calculated from the assessed value, which is set per square wah and varies enormously with location — one rai on a main road in town can be assessed far above ten rai of farmland. Check the assessed value for that specific plot, then apply 2% using the table above.
Does the 0.01% Reduction Cover Resale Homes Too?
Yes. The measure covers both new and resale property, provided it is a detached house, semi-detached house, townhouse, commercial building, land with one of those, or a registered condominium unit, and that the sale price, assessed value and mortgage amount are each no more than 7 million baht. The buyer must be a Thai national and a natural person.
Where Can I Check the Official Assessed Land Value?
Through the Treasury Department's property valuation search, using the deed number, parcel number or location, or by asking the land office for the district where the land sits. The assessed value is the basis for both the transfer fee and the withholding income tax, so check it before setting a budget.
What Documents Are Needed for a Land Transfer?
Generally the original title deed, ID cards, house registration books, marital status documents, a power of attorney if either party is absent, and the relevant sale documents. Companies, transfers to children and inheritances each add their own extra requirements.
